Forest Sound Walks
We have teamed up with visionary contemporary musicians and sound ecologists to create original sound works inspired by local forest trails, available for free to download for your next walk in the woods.
Creative Paths Through Forests
These site specific music commissions are intended for the public to download and listen to while hiking the designated trail.
Each piece is paired with a downloadable map and a local forester's introduction—offering a deeper understanding of the landscape's ecology, history, management and stewardship.
If you are unable to visit these forests in person, you are able to immerse virtually, as each musical composition can be listened to as a meditative sound bath no matter where you are.
Available Sound Walks
Columbia River Gorge, Oregon
Trail: Multnomah Falls/Wiesendanger Falls
Artist: Wayne Grim
Length: 2.6 miles, approx. 2 hours of music
Note: First section wheelchair accessible
Portland, Oregon
Trail: Forest Park – Witch's Castle
Artist: Bora Yoon & Third Angle New Music
Length: 0.9 mile, approx. 40 minutes of music
Note: Parts are wheelchair accessible
Upcoming Sound Walks
Sisters, Oregon
Trail: Whychus Creek
Artist: Julia Oldham
Length: To be announced
Julia Oldham is a video installation artist translating scientific forest data into immersive sensory environments exploring time and color. For her upcoming Forest Sound Walk, she will be sonifying "canopy greenness" data from a network of phenocams and site specific recordings in a ponderosa pine forest. Learn about her other projects here https://juliaoldham.com/
Oregon
Trail: To be announced
Artist: Majel Connery
Length: To be announced
Majel Connery is a composer, performer, and educator whose epic, immersive musical experiences invite audiences to enter the mind of nature. Connery's music blends electronic processing with raw vocal power, creating works both playful and profound—part technical dazzle and part emotional healing. https://www.majelconnery.com/
"For many of us, walking or moving through space has been reduced to a purely functional activity – getting from point A to point B. With these place-based forest sound walks and musical scores acting as guides, we are given permission to question how we co-exist with forests. We can relate in a new way, and for the length of a piece of music, release our previous walking habits to become even more tuned into our forested environment."
– Stephanie Stewart Bailey, Curator of Art and Experiences, World Forestry Center
Partner with us!
Have an idea for an exhibition, performance, workshop, or artist talk? We’d love to hear it. Reach out to start a conversation about bringing your creative vision to World Forestry Center.
